Southern Methodist University
SMU Digital Repository Big iDeas 2009 Proposals
Big iDeas 2009
2009
Big iDeas Proposal - "Omega Delta Phi's Young Knights Program" Pablo De Santiago Southern Methodist University
John Trujillo Southern Methodist University
Vernon Washington Southern Methodist University
Kee Lee Southern Methodist University
Winfred Ko Southern Methodist University See next page for additional authors
Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/big_ideas_2009_proposals Recommended Citation De Santiago, Pablo; Trujillo, John; Washington, Vernon; Lee, Kee; Ko, Winfred; Moten, Cleve; Fernandez, Danny; Fields, Jake; Tovar, Ricardo; Perez, Ben; Lopez, Julio; and Briones, Daniel, "Big iDeas Proposal - "Omega Delta Phi's Young Knights Program"" (2009). Big iDeas 2009 Proposals. Paper 9. http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/big_ideas_2009_proposals/9
This document is brought to you for free and open access by the Big iDeas 2009 at SMU Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Big iDeas 2009 Proposals by an authorized administrator of SMU Digital Repository. For more information, please visit http://digitalrepository.smu.edu.
Authors
Pablo De Santiago, John Trujillo, Vernon Washington, Kee Lee, Winfred Ko, Cleve Moten, Danny Fernandez, Jake Fields, Ricardo Tovar, Ben Perez, Julio Lopez, and Daniel Briones
This article is available at SMU Digital Repository: http://digitalrepository.smu.edu/big_ideas_2009_proposals/9
Big iDeas Proposal – “Omega Delta Phi’s Young Knights Program” Participants:
Pablo A. De Santiago – 4th yr Jr. Management Science John Trujillo – 2nd year Mechanical Engineering Vernon B Washington – 4th year Accounting Kee Lee – 4th year Accounting Winfred Ko – 3rd year Accounting and Economics Cleve Moten – 4th year Jr. Economics and Psychology Danny Fernandez – 4th year Accounting Jake Fields – 2nd year Psychology Ricardo Tovar – 2nd year Chemistry and Math Ben Perez – 3rd year General Business Julio Lopez – 4th year Economics and International Studies Daniel Briones – 4th year Economics with financial applications Various Omega Delta Phi SMU alumni Faculty and staff who will be consulted for advice: Fernando Salazar – Coordinator of Hispanic Student Services Raul Magdaleno – Meadows School of Art Diversity and Community Outreach Hector Rivera – Associate Professor in school of education Outside help and coordination from Education is Freedom, a nonprofit organization designed to eliminate the barriers to higher education and promote equality of opportunity in college attendance. Offices located at local DISD schools like North Dallas, Adamson, and Madison. They will match up the mentors from SMU Omega Delta Phi with the mentees from DISD schools. Contact info: Maria J Vasquez:
[email protected] Problem: Many promising young students go to DISD high school with the wrong mentality. This mentality keeps many of them from challenging themselves and looking beyond high school. Here is an example of certain attitudes that can keep these young students from further pursuing an education:
Content with simply passing classes instead of excelling
Would rather work immediately after graduation instead of continuing with a postsecondary education Have not really thought about the future. Unknowing of what they should do now in order to achieving their dream Solution: A program focused and getting the high school students looking towards the future – ODPhi’s Young Knights Mentoring Program. We are each assigned two students from local Dallas high schools. These high school students will not necessarily be the ones at the top of their class; instead we want students with GPAs around 3.0, because they show promise but still have room to improve. Each member must meet with these students on their own time at least once a month for 3 hours at a time. In addition, we shall hold group get together twice a month with our mentees. We begin by surveying the mentees with a survey to evaluate their current attitudes towards high school, post-secondary education, and the future. At the end of the semester we again give the survey to see how their attitudes have changed. Also, we see how the program has affected their grades by comparing GPAs for the semester with their cumulative GPAs. We do this as a measure of our techniques effectiveness. When we meet with the students we help them not just by tutoring. There exists plenty of tutoring programs already out there (Group Excellence, TAKS tutoring, and other tutoring programs.) We focus on changing their attitudes about education and the future. We plan on these attitudes through providing workshops, career interest assessments, visiting college campuses, helping fill out scholarship and summer program applications, and by simply being good role models. We know test our ideas and refine them this spring semester and build upon what was effective. We want the funding from BigiDeas so that we can have adequate resources to change these high school students’ lives. Calendar/timeline: Program begins August 2009 and ends Spring 2010. Assessments and surveys will be given at the quarter, one-half, three-quarter, and end of the program to track and document progress Anticipated Benefit:
Quality community service that can change the lives of these DISD students, some of which may be future SMU students. Different approach to mentoring through stressing the future rather than just tutoring can be explored. This could provide an opportunity to test different approaches to
mentoring which could be used by programs like the Hispanic Youth Symposium which will be coming to SMU starting this fall. Provides a model for other people to use. Budget for August 2009 – Spring 2010: Transportation
$200
College Entrance Support Materials
$350
Career Interest Assessment Materials
$200
Copying and Printing Expenses
$100
Guest speakers
$150
Miscellaneous
$100
Total Anticipated Budget:
Person Responsible For Funds: Pablo Alejandro De Santiago President of SMU Omega Delta Phi (a multicultural service/social fraternity)
$1,100
